Lana Talks Being Rejected For Total Divas, Her American Side, Dusty Rhodes Pairing Her With Rusev

WWE superstar Lana talked to Scott Fishman of Channel Guide Magazine as part of promoting Total Divas. Lana spoke about showing her American side on the show, being rejected for the second season and more. Below are some highlights.

Being rejected for the second season:

"A month later I debuted with Rusev at Royal Rumble, and it would have been way too soon for me to come out as the Russian American that I am. We had a great first year doing a lot of Russian patriotic, Vladimir Putin stuff on Raw. I think seeing my American family on Total Divas might have hurt the gimmick or confused the fans a bit. Then season four again they talked about it. I've always wanted to be on the show. I think it's a great show. I think Total Divas has brought the women more mainstream and so many opportunities. However, I've always thought if I'm supposed to be on the show I'll be on the show. It's all about timing."

Showing her American side on the show:

"On Total Divas you are going to see the American side of me, and my DNA is American. I grew up in Russia, so there is the discipline and that point-of-view. I appreciate America as the land of opportunity. It's the land where you can see your dreams come true if you work hard. My parents are American. His parents are Bulgarian. So you are going to see this conflict a lot. When I had the Bulgarian wedding, I almost flew home and left just because there was some serious conflict. It was really hard. Those are the challenges that we have to work through. You will see when you tune into the show."

"I was notorious at NXT for having constant pitches and ideas. I was that girl who would come in every day to Dusty Rhodes with a 10-page pitch for characters and posters of character development. I had a lot of ideas. My third day and first promo class I started speaking Russian. He pulls me to the side and says, 'Baby, I want you working with Rusenoff. I finally realized that was the Bulgarian I actually met the night before at a tanning salon. We started working together. I think I motivate him. He always jokes, 'You are the brains of the gimmick. You have the promos and I take the bumps.' I would have him come over every day basically coming up with different skits and things. It was a lot of fun. We've always had a lot of fun. That's the most important thing."

She also talks about her WrestleMania match, Natalya helping her and more. You can read the full interview here.